On how an urbanist Catalan geographer tries to explain what rural areas are

Abstract

The aim of this text is to reflect upon the concepts of rural area, rurality and rural from the point of view of geography using the Catalan Pyrenees as an example, which shows the changes and transformations since the beginning of the 18th century, but especially in the period 1950–2023, where we can see how the traditional farming world is becoming a rural world exhibiting the  characteristics of urban life. The final sectionshows the importance of Ildefons Cerdà’s phrase “rurizad lo urbano: urbanizad lo rural”, which exemplifies what is currently happening in rural and urban relations.